It’s one of those rare occasions that Chanyeol actually succeeds in coercing his friends into coming down to the village for a day, a near impossible feat, since the only person with a car is Jongin and Jongin is lazy. The university express bus that Chanyeol always takes to get to the village goes out of service during the summer, so it’s been a good month since he’s last seen anyone from school and as overbearing as his friends can be sometimes, he does miss them.

They’re all piled into the tiny kitchen at Chanyeol’s home, the Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongin using upturned milk crates as stools so Sehun (Jongin’s mysterious friend that Chanyeol hasn’t actually met before this) and Chanyeol’s mother can use the only two chairs. No one’s even bothering with their plates, instead picking meat and rice right out of the serving containers in the center of the table. It’s incredibly cramped but Chanyeol can’t help but think they could have fit just one more person.

“Cheer up, ‘Yeol,” Jongin groans loudly around his chopsticks, half because of the fantastic cooking and half because of Chanyeol’s sour mood ever since the designated meeting time passed and Baekhyun had failed to show up. “I didn’t drive an hour just to see that ugly pout,”

“Language,” Kyungsoo reminds him, shooting a glance at Chanyeol’s mother, who shrugs. Jongin pokes out his tongue at their friend and then flicks a piece of rice at his forehead, hitting the target with practiced ease. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and shifts away from Jongin, only to place a comforting hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder. “Next time, Chanyeol, don’t worry about it.”

“There isn’t going to be a next time!” Chanyeol all but wails, and his mother has to jump to drag his empty plate and glass of water out of the way before he flops himself down on the dining room table and mopes into the tablecloth. “Jongin is a lazy piece of crap, you’re not gonna come here again till next summer at least and by then we’ll be all done with the fireflies and Baekhyun will never wanna see me again!”

“I made friends!” Kyungsoo cuts in quickly. Chanyeol peers curiously up at him through his bangs. “With someone from around here. He has a car. A minivan! We don’t need to rely on Jongin’s lazy anymore. I’ll come visit your new friend when he wants to meet us, okay?”

“’Kay,” Chanyeol mumbles, turning back into the table and taking a deep breath. “But that’s only if he doesn’t hate me.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Chanyeol’s mother points out as she places the plate back down on the table, far out of Chanyeol’s reach. “He’s probably just as upset someone he’s grown to trust is trying to force him into a social situation he’s not exactly comfortable with.”

“What do you even mean?” Chanyeol grumbles. As he sits up, his gaze automatically lands on Sehun, and he has to look away, because the blank stare the high-school senior is giving him sort of creeps him out. “He’s my friend and I want to introduce him to my other friends.”

“It took him ages to even say a single word to you,” Jongin says, voice muffled by his mouthful of rice. “What makes you think he wants to meet us? Also, what makes you think we wanna meet him? He sounds weird.”

“Don’t judge him too harshly, Jongin,” Chanyeol’s mother narrows her eyes as she swipes the bowl of rice away just as Jongin reaches for more. “The kid has been through a lot. I’m surprised he even spends so much time with our Chanyeol, here,”

“What do you mean, Mrs. Park?” Kyungsoo asks politely, and he beams triumphantly in Jongin’s direction when she places the bowl of rice down directly in front of him, and he immediately digs in, as if he’s scared it’ll be taken away from him sometime soon.

“Well, there’s been some talk, around the village,” her airy tone has even Sehun shimmying closer so he can hear better. Chanyeol sits up and stares at his mother in surprise—he hasn’t heard any talking around the village, especially not about Baekhyun. “A lot of people wondered why he moved here after the accident. I mean, apparently they’d been planning on taking him in a long time ago, because his parents aren’t exactly… right in the head. I remember his mother from high school, always had these dreams of moving away. Thought she was too good for this village…” She scrunches up her nose as if she doesn’t really enjoy the memory of this woman very much at all. “I heard from someone who was closer to her that they didn’t treat Baekhyun all that well, always left him home alone when they went to his sisters recitals and they never once attended one of his. Even though he was apparently, and I say this because I’ve only heard rumors, a musical genius. Really good at the piano. His grandmother would always make him play for her friends when he visited. Before she had the accident and went deaf, of course.”

She pauses, and looks around at all the oddly attentive boys. “Um. Anyway. The Baekhyun I remember, and I only ever saw him once as a kid, I’m surprised he’s the same person to be honest, he seemed really happy. But then, according to my friend, he stopped playing piano completely and begged his parents to let him move here, but they kept refusing because they didn’t want him to burden his grandparents after everything that happened.”

“Is that why he learned sign language?” Chanyeol asks sadly as he tries to wrap his head around everything his mother just said. “So he could move here?”

“He knows sign language?” His mother looks genuinely surprised. “People are saying they eventually gave in just so that they wouldn’t have to pay his way through university. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he taught himself sign language just so he wouldn’t be a burden for them. It seems like the kind of person his parents would have forced him to be.”

Chanyeol clears his throat and stands up quickly. He doesn’t bother saying goodbye to his friends – he knows they understand, and he knows any anger will have disappeared by the time school starts up again. He knows exactly where Baekhyun will be, and he doesn’t waste any time slipping out of his house and down that long gravel road to get there.

As expected, he spots Baekhyun from the other side of the field, bent over the firefly coop with the long cooking chopsticks held carefully in his slender fingers. Chanyeol approaches as quietly as he can, but Baekhyun glances up just as he’s a few paces away. He immediately places the chopsticks down inside the blue bucket and pads over to him, staring at the ground between their feet, guilty.  

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispers, and Baekhyun’s eyes widen once he finally meets Chanyeol’s gaze. Chanyeol feels a shiver go down his spine—he feels like he’s being read like an open book, like Baekhyun knows every thought going through his mind and he has no way to hide it. “Baekhyun. Can you teach me sign language?” He asks suddenly, and the words surprise himself as much as they seem to surprise Baekhyun. “Because I’ve spent all this time trying to get you to talk, but, I haven’t tried even once to learn how to…be quiet and…”

“Shh,” Baekhyun smiles weakly at him and then reaches for his hand. He holds it up in between them and Chanyeol stares at it, trying his hardest to fight off the blush that’s currently heating up his cheeks thanks to Baekhyun’s gentle touch. “Make your hand into a fist,” he orders, and Chanyeol complies, blushing as Baekhyun nudges his thumb so it’s next to his forefinger and not covering it. He then lifts Chanyeol’s pinky, and then his forefinger, and then nudges the thumb again so it’s pointing out. “Can you remember what I just did?” Baekhyun asks slowly, and Chanyeol nods, attempting it on his own once Baekhyun lets go. “Do you promise me you’ll never forget?”

Chanyeol nods again. “What does it mean?” He asks, and Baekhyun shakes his head.

“Just promise you won’t ever forget it.”

“I won’t,” Chanyeol says defiantly. “I promise.” He does the sign again just to prove his point and Baekhyun gives him one last tiny smile before turning back to the larvae. When Chanyeol sidles up to him and reaches for his own pair of chopsticks out of their little blue bucket, he can’t help but notice that Baekhyun’s leaning against him just a little bit more than he usually does.

-

sort of double update today

I'm only posting this now because I feel bad that it's been so long haha

I've caught up to myself which is something I promised wouldnt happen so I uh. better get writing ;D

so much fluff